Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Shares Purchased by GoalVest Advisory LLC

GoalVest Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 99.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,202 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 600 shares during the quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $313,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in AMGN. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its holdings in Amgen by 33,125.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,437,115,000 after purchasing an additional 4,446,757 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Amgen by 6,812.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,523,387 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $8,130,610,000 after buying an additional 2,486,882 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 561.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,539,733 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $496,117,000 after buying an additional 1,306,982 shares during the period. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Amgen by 9,058.1% during the 2nd quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC now owns 756,460 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $223,897,000 after acquiring an additional 748,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Amgen by 40.7% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,338,665 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $609,526,000 after acquiring an additional 676,598 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of AMGN opened at $273.44 on Thursday. Amgen Inc. has a 12 month low of $253.30 and a 12 month high of $346.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $272.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $306.67. The company has a market cap of $146.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.01, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.56.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.50 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 168.35%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.96 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Amgen Inc. will post 19.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s payout ratio is 115.24%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AMGN shares. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Amgen from $360.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wolfe Research started coverage on Amgen in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Amgen from $305.00 to $285.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and set a $256.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.91.

Amgen Company Profile

Amgen Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, and delivers human therapeutics worldwide. The company's principal products include Enbrel to treat plaque psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriatic arthritis; Otezla for the treatment of adult patients with plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and oral ulcers associated with Behçet's disease; Prolia to treat postmenopausal women with osteoporosis; XGEVA for skeletal-related events prevention; Repatha, which reduces the risks of myocardial infarction, stroke, and coronary revascularization; Nplate for the treatment of patients with immune thrombocytopenia; KYPROLIS to treat patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma; Aranesp to treat a lower-than-normal number of red blood cells and anemia; EVENITY for the treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal for men and women; Vectibix to treat patients with wild-type RAS metastatic colorectal cancer; BLINCYTO for the treatment of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia; TEPEZZA to treat thyroid eye disease; and KRYSTEXXA for the treatment of chronic refractory gout.